Page 51 - Seeing Good in All

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For Believers, There is Good in All Things

God is prized in God's sight. The Prophet Nuh (as), who was
granted long life by God, is such an example. Because this

noble man struggled every minute of his life to attain the
pleasure of God, His mercy and His Paradise, his efforts
improved his reward in the Hereafter.
On the contrary, there is a delusion here into which
disbelieving societies tend to fall; they consider a long life a
gift. The verse below exposes this falsehood:

Those who disbelieve should not imagine that the extra
time We grant to them is good for them. We only allow
them more time so they will increase in evildoing. They
will have a humiliating punishment. (Surah Al 'Imran:
178)
Those who belong to the societies of the ignorant, who

make the pursuit of the temporary pleasures of this world the
sole pursuit of their lives, consider a long life as further
opportunity to enjoy these worldly goods. Thus, these, who
forget God and the Day of Judgement, fail to grasp the value
of the time they recklessly waste. However, as mentioned in
the verse above, this time granted to them, in actuality, works
against them.

A person who contemplates these issues may attain a
deeper understanding of how we are to determine what is
"good" and what is "bad", according to the statement of God
that "it may be that one hates something when it is good for
him and it may be that one loves something when it is bad
for him."